I just asked around, and the standard for calculating NPCs' critical hit effect DCs is the ability save DC listed in Tables 1, 3, and 5 in Starfinder Alien Archive. Remember that a combatant array can boost the save DC of an especially important ability by 2 during design.
For Panelliar, I don't think that the wound critical hit effect is central to his design; it's a nice thing to have and a mean surprise in the unlikely event it lops off a PC's arm. As a result, I'd have his critical hit effect save DC of 14 as advised on Table 1.
Works for me. Thank you, sir. : )
How am I supposed to pronounce “Ailabiens 21:2”?
http://paizo.com/threads/rzs2uohc?Temple-of-the-TwelveHow-in-the-name-of-Or as
The dev that wrote it said "Ailabiens (eye-LAY-be-ens) Twenty-One Two"
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The lack of an actual wilderness map for the journey in Ukulam -- let alone the notional position of the Temple of the Twelve is really disappointing.
I know this thing was developed on a shoestring - but things like this really should have been included.
If I sound like an annoyed customer - that is because I am. The shortcuts to presenting a supposed complete product and the budgetary restrictions of this AP really suck. A lot.
The lack of an actual wilderness map for the journey in Ukulam -- let alone the notional position of the Temple of the Twelve is really disappointing.
Not sure if this is what you meant, I would have liked a regional map outlying the local geography and topography from a satellite POV so the journey and progress is more tangible. Ultimately I was able to make what I needed from the full spread of Castrovel on pages 36-37, essentially cutting out the continent of Ukulam and enhancing the area around Turhalu Point and Loskialua. I plan to use this as they travel, mimicking a datapad's GPS software, and having them add in the Obelisk, Star Gazer, and Temple locations manually as they're found. This may be more of a personal preference than a real need, as we run a pretty visual game with a TV built into the table, but some of the characters are really in for the academic/research angle and will want to chronicle their exploration.
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Possible Answer: (not sure why this is in a spoiler tag, since this whole thing is a spoiler thread for GM's, but just in case)
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Quick Question...
** spoiler omitted **
A major consideration in when in the story I added that moldstorm was the amount of environmental protection the PCs have at that level. As pithica42 observes the PCs have to carefully ration their environmental protections if they're to have enough left by the time the moldstorm hits.
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Umm, I saw that the module's author answered questions here and there, so in the hopes he is still lurking around here... :-)
"Despite his uncouth demeanor, few have read as many articles and files as he has, and he commands an unrivaled mental catalog of the university’s collections. He reviewed Halkueem Zan’s confiscated notes a decade ago, dismissing it as drivel."
However I think there is nothing in previous conversations that would give a clue to the PCs that Ailabiens might have this information. For all the PCs know at this point, they are just there to convince him to make an apology because of his controversial lecture. Thereby the PCs have no reason to ask him if he knows anything about Halkueem Zan's notes. Or did I miss something somewhere which might give a hint to the PCs that Ailabiens could be a source of info on Halkueem?
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Umm, I saw that the module's author answered questions here and there, so in the hopes he is still lurking around here... :-)
** spoiler omitted **
Although I'm not the author, I expect to be running this in the future, so I have a few ideas on how to handle this.
I think the adventure assumes that the players will keep their ultimate goal in mind and will likely ask any major (and possibly any minor) NPC they encounter for information. However, if you are worried that the players won't do that, you can slip information into a conversation with any of the presented NPCs.
Either Whaloss or Professor Muhali might mention the detail about how much of the the University's library he has crammed into his head in the same breath they are talking about his thoughtless presentation of his lecture.
Another way to do it is through direct PC knowledge. Based on the campaign outline in the first book, I proposed possible character backgrounds to tie the PCs to the story. I tried to make sure that at least one of my PCs has a background that brought them into contact with the University of Xenoarchology and Xenoanthropology. If they didn't choose a scholarly character, I gave them an NPC contact who is familiar with Qabarat University. If the players don't ask Dr. Ailabiens 21:2 about Haulkeem Zan's expedition, I'll give them a prompt that will allow them to "remember" that detail about the doctor's reputation.
That gives me a way within the context of the story to allow the PCs to learn that info, because the story stalls without it. The trick is ensuring the players feel like they're the ones that figured it out, even if they needed my help.
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Paris's suggestions are all good. Ailabiens 21:2 is also the sort to toot his own figurative horn, complaining that it's impractical to deny resources to the faculty member who has the best understanding of "Castrovel's mediocre prehistory."
Quick question: Are there any new power armors added in Temple of the Twelve?
Damn. Thanks for checking. :)
Since vehicles are illegal during the wilderness trek, do you think it would be legal for a party to purchase or rent a Shotalashu for the trip?
If so, can anyone suggest a price for renting or buying one? I'm struggling with it because I have nothing to compare it to.
Would there be any penalties for a non-telepathic character handling a Shotalashu, or would they just miss out on the bonuses mentioned for Lashunta mentioned in the telepathic link?
Can anyone think of any other Castrovelian creatures that would be appropriate as mounts or pack animals?
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If I were asked by a player to buy one, I'd probably put it between the price of a Goblin Junkcycle and an Energy Cycle. Probably about 500-600 credits. Renting it would probably be 10-50 credits a day (negotiable, with lower rates for longer durations).
But I'd also not let them participate in combat for that price. They're trained to run and/or hide at any sign of trouble.
I think the only penalty is that a non-telepath would have to spend the normal actions (assuming a move action) to direct their mount with a survival check (or is it life science in SF? I can't remember).
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Where do I find the rules for Avissa's withering fire ability?
Check the next column on that page. It's right above her art.Where do I find the rules for Avissa's withering fire ability?
OMG, it would be right in front of my face... I wasted an hr looking for it!
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I have the same questions as my predecessors regarding Corpse Fleet, Escolar and PCs' Space Ship attack (at the beginning of AP2): what are everyone's motives?
Why haven't you answered?
It would be of great help because I don't understand why the Corpse Fleet would attack the PCs...
It's been addressed in some other threads:
It's been confirmed that the Ambassador's "cargo" from Incident at Absalom Station will not resurface, and that GMs can work it as they see fit. Splintered Worlds makes significant use of the Corpse Fleet.
My explanation for the attack in Temple of the Twelve is that the Corpse Fleet Officer is a defector or - at the very least - a double agent bringing information to the Ambassador. The Ambassador is a loyal member of the Pact Worlds and is working to keep the Corpse Fleet at bay. It is logical that he would have spies, operatives, etc. in the Corpse Fleet.
The Corpse Fleet knew that their officer had escaped, and so is either trying to kill the officer or kill the PCs, who may have gained information from the officer.
It also can be explained by trying to slow down the Pact Worlds. The Corpse Fleet is a few steps ahead of the rest as to what the Drift Rock means, and killing the PCs is a great way to keep the Pact Worlds bickering over the Drift Rock, and not following them to the Stellar Degenerator.
I have a question about characters that have robot companions.
"Furthermore, the temple disrupts communications for several thousand feet around itself, introducing enough static to interfere with data uploads over comm units or computers."
Does this interfere with there ability to use them for scouting and giving actions. It would seem to me it does.
-Z
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I'd be hesitant to disable a PC mechanic's drone over it. For one, it's a class feature and shouldn't be disabled lightly. For two, it's an advanced AI: it can and should be allowed to follow its own independent programming.
In my mind, it's there to be more of an impediment to long range communication. I wouldn't do more than than maybe add a little static to line of sight communication methods. The communication disruption serves to help the PCs feel isolated and, frankly, it is there to provide a story reason to make Tahomen the last encounter.
Sebastokrater covers pretty much everything I would have included in a response.
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Hey, Folks!
I put together shipsheets for the ships used in the campaign. I'll add pages to it when parts 5 and 6 come out, as well. The stats and DCs for some of the offensive actions on the enemy ships' sheets are based on fighting the Sunrise Maiden as she is presented in the first book.
Enjoy!
Is the Hostile Witness encounter really necessary? It's great to open the book with a big starship battle, but the motivation of the Corpse Fleet just feels really out of place (of course, I'm projecting to a degree here given no motivation for Eoskalar reaching Nor is actually given).
What do people think about either moving the fight to a later part of the book (and thus changing the Corpse Fleet's motives) or removing it completely?
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Hey, Folks!
I put together shipsheets for the ships used in the campaign. I'll add pages to it when parts 5 and 6 come out, as well. The stats and DCs for some of the offensive actions on the enemy ships' sheets are based on fighting the Sunrise Maiden as she is presented in the first book.
Enjoy!
Thank you very much, Paris.
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Is the Hostile Witness encounter really necessary? It's great to open the book with a big starship battle, but the motivation of the Corpse Fleet just feels really out of place (of course, I'm projecting to a degree here given no motivation for Eoskalar reaching Nor is actually given).
What do people think about either moving the fight to a later part of the book (and thus changing the Corpse Fleet's motives) or removing it completely?
In my campaign, Eskolar is a defector from the Corpse Fleet that is being smuggled to safety by Ambassador Nor. The reason Nor had the Hippocampus heavily outfitted for starship combat is because he had gotten wind that the Corpse Fleet had discovered Eskolar’s deception and had tracked her to the Acreon. He suspects that the Corpse Fleet has already dispatched a ship to intercept (the Cairncarver in this case) and he wants the PCs to be able to fight, just in case. The reason he has the Hippocampus recalled after the PCs depart for the Drift Rock is that he has confirmed that the Iron Rictus is inbound and he doesn’t want to chance Eskolar being destroyed (assuming she has been transferred to the Hippocampus by this point). When the Iron Rictus finally arrives on scene, it attacks the PCs in the Sunrise Maiden, presuming that Eskolar is now on board, and wanting to destroy her before she gives up Corpse Fleet secrets to Ambassador Nor.
In other words, not only is Ambassador Nor not a Corpse Fleet sympathizer, he actually takes his role as head of the Ministry of Eternal Vigilance (see book 3) very seriously and wants the Corpse Fleet brought down as quickly as possible. It’s the perfect red herring for the PCs, assuming they engage with Eskolar.
Is the Hostile Witness encounter really necessary? It's great to open the book with a big starship battle, but the motivation of the Corpse Fleet just feels really out of place (of course, I'm projecting to a degree here given no motivation for Eoskalar reaching Nor is actually given).
What do people think about either moving the fight to a later part of the book (and thus changing the Corpse Fleet's motives) or removing it completely?
The main point I think of the encounter is to give players an immediate opportunity to try out their new spaceship. Playing with new toys is waaaaay more important than narrative sometimes :)
A secondary point is to show the Corpse Fleet, especially if the players weren't daring enough to open up Nor's package. When my group played this, this encounter was the first time the Corpse fleet got mentioned. Having them show up now means that when they reappear in Splintered Worlds, it'll mean something to the players.
Finally, how your players feel about spaceship combat at the end of this encounter might influence whether to keep later spaceship combat. If at the end of this encounter everyone is feeling down about spaceship combat... y'know to nix later encounters in the AP.
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** spoiler omitted **Quick Question...
** spoiler omitted **
John, if you are following this forum still, could I get you to give us an idea of what the stats are for "Ancient Elven Battle Armor (Archaic)?" I can't find in the AP or the Core Book what this would mean for this particular armor (much less archaic not being a normal thing for armor as opposed to weapons).
Thank you again!
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John, if you are following this forum still, could I get you to give us an idea of what the stats are for "Ancient Elven Battle Armor (Archaic)?" I can't find in the AP or the Core Book what this would mean for this particular armor (much less archaic not being a normal thing for armor as opposed to weapons).
Thank you again!
In all likelihood, it's not going to be a great choice for a PC due to the archaic property and lack of life support. That said, it might be a cool choice for some PCs. Based on his movement speed and class graft, it would be appropriate to make it 6th-level light armor with EAC +6, KAC +6, Max Dex Bonus +4, Armor Check —, Speed Adjustment —, Upgrade Slots 0, and Bulk 1.
Due to its condition and lack of modern amenities, its resale value is likely close to negligible.
Creative Director, Starfinder
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John, if you are following this forum still, could I get you to give us an idea of what the stats are for "Ancient Elven Battle Armor (Archaic)?" I can't find in the AP or the Core Book what this would mean for this particular armor (much less archaic not being a normal thing for armor as opposed to weapons).
Thank you again!
The armor doesn't have any stats - it's the kind of armor you'd find in a fantasy/medieval setting (like Pathfinder). It's primarily descriptive to represent the ancient armor that NPC has been wearing for thousands of years.
That being said, the archaic armor special property is detailed in Starfinder AP #4: The Ruined Clouds (though it was mentioned in the Core Rulebook in the archaic weapon special property). If you feel you need actual stats for the armor, I would just make it equivalent to a suit of level 6 armor like kasatha micorcord II, keeping in mind that it wouldn't have any of the features of modern armor, such as upgrade slots, environmental protections, and the like.
To carry over a little bit the small grudge the PC and Astral Extractions have, I'm planning to add something.
AE will be interested in the zone. They are probing for some skymetals (Sicatite maybe?). There is also a group of Eco-terrorists that do not agree with this. The group of Eco-terrorists will probably oppose the PC as well, not seeing any difference between them and the corporation, although maybe the PC can manage to convince them their goals are different. The corporation itself will probably start Unfriendly toward the PC (they didn't get all they wanted in last adventure), but can be shifted toward Indifferent. They can support the PC with gear and stuff (although that will mean the Ecoterrorists will never agree to deal with the PC).
Now I'd need some stats for ecoterrorists, corporates and a drow weapon dealer (this is a different story). Anyone knows what I can use for those? I could use just Devourer cultists for all of them, but that sounds bland.
I also wold like to replace one of the encounters (maybe the carnivorous plant, or one of the Ksarik) with a Predator-like encounter. Anyone knows any low-level monster from SF, or easy to convert from PF, that can work as a Predator (intelligent, hunter, high stealth or invisibility), etc?
This has been a rough week and I have my session tomorrow :P
I'm AFB, so I don't remember the CR's but you may be able to use the Sarcesian Sniper from Dead Suns 3. Just reskin as a Formian. It should only take a few minutes of work.
Formian are extinct in my home game :P.
But yes, a sniper might work. And there's a shirresh sniper in Dead Suns 2 anyways, so I'd roll with that.
Goblins make excellent snipers. I picked formian because I was looking for something local on Castrovel. For extra flavor you could do up a junk laser sniper rifle.
I finally took Salask and made him an eco-terrorist. He has been pew-pewing the players in the first session in the jungle, but from long distance. They left him behind in a bridge, and now are free to move for a while. They might end with an ally vs the Cult of the Devourer, as far as they manage to convince him they are not dangerous for the Reservation. So far they have made the right choices (did not fall for Astral Extraction bribes to get equipment in exchange of doing a few mining probes in the Reservation)
BTW, does anybody have a good infographics of a chart with 12 suns? I have been looking for one, mainly from Zodiacs and Horoscopes, to see if I can find one which is remotely close to a handout for this part of the AP
I really don't like the initial encounters at the univeristy.
Muhali, a professor whos lifes work is linguistic anthropolgy, and someone presents her with ancient script found on a mysterious asteroid, possibly the most interesting thing she will ever see in her career, and she says, "nope, don't want to see it, I've got some public relations things to do." I don't buy it.
If the PCs even talk to Ailabiens 21:2, he tells them early on that he's on probation and can't help, but Dr. Solstarni can. So, I would wish him luck and go find Dr. Solstarni. Why, at this point, do the PCs care about helping Ailabiens? They don't find out until later, and only IF they help Ailabiens and Muhali, that Dr. Solstarni is missing.
Muhali calls the police and then...gives these random strangers a key to Solstarnis office. "The police are on their way but you four random people should have access to his office and start the investigation."
Bleh...
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I really don't like the initial encounters at the univeristy.
Muhali, a professor whos lifes work is linguistic anthropolgy, and someone presents her with ancient script found on a mysterious asteroid, possibly the most interesting thing she will ever see in her career, and she says, "nope, don't want to see it, I've got some public relations things to do." I don't buy it.
If the PCs even talk to Ailabiens 21:2, he tells them early on that he's on probation and can't help, but Dr. Solstarni can. So, I would wish him luck and go find Dr. Solstarni. Why, at this point, do the PCs care about helping Ailabiens? They don't find out until later, and only IF they help Ailabiens and Muhali, that Dr. Solstarni is missing.
Muhali calls the police and then...gives these random strangers a key to Solstarnis office. "The police are on their way but you four random people should have access to his office and start the investigation."
Bleh...
Never underestimate the impact a pack of angry deans, directors, and journalists can have on one's mental bandwidth. Muhali has been badgered from all angles to resolve her colleague's alarming behavior, and suddenly she's presented with the PCs and their problems. On a normal day, the PCs' discovery would no doubt excite her. The day they arrive, though, she's already emotionally drained, her department's under fire, and the media's clawing at the doors. There are bigger problems.
"Please come back once I can spare the mental capacity to examine this finding. If you want to help speed up that process, you're welcome to talk to the floating brain down the hall. Heavens knows he won't listen to me, and if some strangers can convince him to stop being a jerk, you'll have my attention."
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I was skeptical about the university stuff. I was worried the stuff with the journalists would grind the game to a bit of a halt... so I had some angry formian terrorists break into the uni wanting to get reprisal for the xenophobic rant Ailabeins made. It eased the scene a bit, got a police officer in the building, gave the journalists some reason to interact with the players, and introduced a new sub-plot I can bring in later. When they ended up talking to Nuhali, I still made her uneager to interact with the players (I played her as an overworked, jaded woman with more important things on her mind, like the terrorist attack in her foyer), but she happily agrees to give the players access to Solstarni's office. Whilst she was looking for the keycard.... the players went to Ailabein's to talk to him about what he had said anyways. Ailabein's attitude is much harder to defend when there has already been consequences to his actions. Everything in the book ultimately played out, just there was an added combat (the players were really happy about the roleplay/combat balance in that session, which also included the smugglers, who recognised the players from news reports of the terrorist incident and were alerted very early that they were being investigated).
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I had a question about the Yaruk encounter at the start of Act 2: do other GMS run it as purely narrative, or do you treat it as a mini-game and set out the actions for players before hand? I feel the encounter is necessary (the players are massively excited about Ukulem, to the point of singing the Jurassic Park theme at the mere mention of creatures like the Yaruks), but I've never had great luck with running encounters like this where it is expected that the players do actions from a particular list, whilst randomly receiving damage. I wonder what approach everyone else takes?
Also, is Oatian culture described in more detail anywhere but here? After this adventure we'll be doing more homebrew stuff, so I was thinking of making the 'piece of Drift Rock' less a superweapon and more a broken relic of the ancient Oatian culture. Was curious if maybe their history is dealt with in one of the already released books, so I don't end up writing stuff that contradicts what is already in a sourcebook!
I had a question about the Yaruk encounter at the start of Act 2: do other GMS run it as purely narrative, or do you treat it as a mini-game and set out the actions for players before hand? I feel the encounter is necessary (the players are massively excited about Ukulem, to the point of singing the Jurassic Park theme at the mere mention of creatures like the Yaruks), but I've never had great luck with running encounters like this where it is expected that the players do actions from a particular list, whilst randomly receiving damage. I wonder what approach everyone else takes?
I cottoned on to it as a chase-ish scene quickly, I think everyone else did too. One thing that added more interest was being allowed to chase the sniper in the midst of the stampede. My operative and the mechanic had sniper rifles as well and as we neared the herd I said "this would be a good place for a sniper..." *crack*, so we got the chance to spot the instigator. Actually were able to gain on the guy until the envoy himself into trouble and had to stop and shoot a distraction for him. Made for a nice extra dynamic element.
As it was, definitely one of the better PF chases I've seen.
One other question, for anyone who knows:
The map on page 26 — between the areas C3, C5, and C7, there are a series of dashed lines. Does anyone know what these lines represent? I can’t find reference to them in the descriptions at all?
EDIT: Duh! Found it! Sorry to waste people’s time!
(Though for anyone as clueless as me, it’s in a careful reading of C5.)
I really don't like the initial encounters at the univeristy.
Muhali, a professor whos lifes work is linguistic anthropolgy, and someone presents her with ancient script found on a mysterious asteroid, possibly the most interesting thing she will ever see in her career, and she says, "nope, don't want to see it, I've got some public relations things to do." I don't buy it.
I substantially changed this encounter, partially because I have changed strongly the history of Cadtrovel.
21:2 is an anacite in my version. He is acussing Lashuntas of Xenocide. Lashuntas killed, thousands of years ago, the last formian queens. They did not consider formians to be sentient back then. Barely animals. 21:2 has proof of formians having pottery, woodcraft ING, and considers anthills architecture. Therefore, by current definition of sentient races they were one. This made the Lashunta player naturally interested in the issue, which I made have no connection with the main story line. Muhali gave them the keys to the apartment anyways. Later I might add a Formian stasis egg, and put them in the same dilemma as Ender and Commander Shepard of Mass Effect: the release of a potentially angry and dangerous race.
I also made changes to elves (a nomad race in my game), and they are going to discover elves (and drow) come from Castrovel and are older than Lashunta. Which may shock my Lashunta and Drow players.
The idea here is: don't be afraid to change stuff to better fit your group
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So about to finish book two and I feel like I'm missing something. How are people running the return at the very end. There isn't a method to recharge armour and it's another trip back.
Let alone the possibility just to die from heat death it feels a bit boring.
I was going to say planet security or something detected a strong signal out here and has special flight licence to investigate those operating that level of technology without permission, but they did have permission to be out their even though their motives were unknown.
So maybe intercepted and too many culty mentions flagged military to investigate?
So about to finish book two and I feel like I'm missing something. How are people running the return at the very end. There isn't a method to recharge armour and it's another trip back.
Let alone the possibility just to die from heat death it feels a bit boring.
I was going to say planet security or something detected a strong signal out here and has special flight licence to investigate those operating that level of technology without permission, but they did have permission to be out their even though their motives were unknown.
So maybe intercepted and too many culty mentions flagged military to investigate?
We ran it as an emergency medievac for our envoy, poor ratty guy wasn't going to make it otherwise (unchained disease rules that Starfinder uses *hurt*). With the cult clearly desecrating the should-be-protected ruins we figured the authorities would be willing to lift the ban. Even if you don't have sick party members, you do have a drugged and traumatized NPC...why not have her infected as well?